Rigging a storm Jib differently?

[belizesailor]

I used to own a cutter rig with a self tending jib. Super easy to single hand.

In a moderate breeze I could run it with just main and staysail...everything then self tacking.

I modified the staysail rigging so that it had single line reefing to take it down to storm jib size...and then proptly got caught out in hurricane force conditions! It worked perfrectly.

[Don C L]

Is it really a storm jib there for the staysail? If so I'd leave it furled and the forestay removed, till you need a storm jib. I agree with Jammer that upwind close-hauled with a staysail will likely give you more drag than drive, though off the wind a bit the staysail can help. I used to sail a Downeast 38 with a self-tending staysail and it was fine. It is easy to reef a staysail too when needed, prior to needing a storm jib. You might find that rigging the storm jib on the headstay instead and the mizzen reefed and the main furled completely will work well in nasty weather and balance the boat better, I'm not sure. Something to experiment with.

[Kettlewell]

For a storm jib you want it totally bulletproof and simple, and you don't want any booms or blocks to flail around when you're trying to take a reef in the main and such. Blocks and booms can kill you when the sail is flogging. I have sailed a small cutter with an inner forestay that could set a decent-sized staysail or a storm jib. In reality, the ordinary non-overlapping staysail was about as much jib as I would ever want in winds up to 40 knots. The storm jib was so small as to be a joke. If it was blowing that hard I wouldn't want any jib up there. I've found the same with a trysail, unless it is rather big, like a triple-reefed main. With a ketch, like I have, the preferred method is to reef the main down until you take it down, then proceed under jib and jigger. The problem a lot of us have is the roller jib is too big, and doesn't perform all that well partially furled.

[jalmberg]

How is that eye strap attached to the mast? It looks like it would rip out on the first nasty gybe.